The trio sonatas of J.S. Bach are musical gems and technical challenges. The first one I learned was Sonata No. 5 in C Major. Here is the first movement as I dust it off after letting the score rest in the file cabinet for a few years.
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Category: Cathedral Music
Psalm 40 Blues
The Old Testament reading for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C is the story of Jeremiah being thrown into a cistern where he is expected to sink into the mud and die. The Responsorial Psalm that follows is a set of verses from Psalm 40 with the refrain, “Lord, come to my aid.” When I first encountered this set of readings back in 1995, the most obvious musical idea was to make it a 12-bar blues. It was a little bit of a stretch to get the verses and refrain to line up consistently, but perhaps more of a stretch to do the premier on a little two-manual German baroque style organ!
As the setting only appears once every three years, I don’t really know how often or where I’ve been able to do it since then. Many times, this pushes the envelope of what is accepted or expected for music in the churches I have served. There is a contemporary group at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, and I’ve heard some requests for some more modern music, so I put it on the schedule this year. Here’s the video from the 9:30 am Mass on 14 August 2016:
A child decided it was time to play with the kneelers during verse three. It would have been great to have some well-timed percussion, but sometimes you just take what you get.
Note: This is not included in the Audubon Park Psalter, though it could show up in a later volume of more contemporary/gospel/jazz psalm settings.
Monody
Organists always love to make lots of sound. Improvisers typically use both hands and feet to play almost all the time while improvising. This weekend, I thought I’d do something a little different and play only one note at a time during the offertory.
Saturday evening, I improvised a slow monody thinking perhaps of a solo cello piece:
Sunday, I decided to aim at something a little more sparkly and bright:
Do you have the courage to improvise only a single melodic line?
Psalm 66 and an Improvisation
Here are two new videos from this Saturday’s 5pm Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
First up is the responsorial psalm for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. While the chords are triadic in summary, both the right and left hands almost always play only fourths and fifths. The psalm is published in the Audubon Park Psalter.
Next is the offertory. This is a simple improvised piece using the strings and a solo flute. Nothing complicated here. Just a slow pleasant relaxed moment for meditation.
Psalm 47 – Ascension of the Lord
One of the refrains that has survived from my first set of psalms written in 1995 with psalm tone and verses from the new Revised Grail Psalter. The choir is in a new location for this Mass, just over my right shoulder in the front area of the upper sanctuary. We have previously been in the back area of the upper sanctuary much closer to the organ.
The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Solemnities, Feasts and Holidays.
Psalm 103 – the Lord Is Kind and Merciful
Recorded live 2 April 2016 (iPhone)
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
Psalm 103 with the response “The Lord is kind and merciful,” appears several times in the lectionary cycle. This was recorded at a wedding, so the small congregation is hard to hear. Only two verses are included in this video because the lack of memory on my iPhone prevented me from capturing the entire psalm setting.
The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Weddings and Funerals.
Psalm 145 – Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
Recorded 24 April 2016 (iPhone) at the 11am Mass
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore MD
Psalm 145 – I Will Praise Your Name Forever
for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C
The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Year C.
Psalm 100 – Easter 4C
This setting uses jazz harmonies in a traditional organ and cantor setting. It could easily work with a jazz combo as well.
The music for this piece is found in Audubon Park Psalter – Year C.
Rondo à la Marche
Written to serve as a wedding processional and premiered on a small two-manual organ, the video below shows how the piece can also make use the solo tuba of a larger instrument.
The score may be purchased as a download for $8.
Isaiah 12 for Advent 3
This setting was newly composed this year and is not part of the Audubon Park Psalter. After years of writing psalm settings on an almost weekly basis, I still like to create new settings from time to time as there are many different ways to present the same text.